1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid processing apparatus, a liquid processing method, a computer program, and a storage medium, for carrying out a chemical liquid processing and a rinsing process, by dipping an object to be processed, such as a semiconductor wafer or liquid crystal substrate, in a chemical liquid or rising liquid, in a processing tank.
2. Background Art
In the past, a cleaning step, for providing a cleaning process to a semiconductor wafer(s) or liquid crystal substrate(s), has been carried out, in a manufacturing process for a semiconductor part or flat display. In the cleaning step, an object to be processed, such as a semiconductor wafer or liquid crystal substrate, is dipped in a chemical liquid in a processing tank, and the object to be processed is then dipped in a rinsing liquid in the processing tank, so as to clean its surface.
A liquid processing apparatus for use in the cleaning step, includes a processing tank and a supporting instrument configured to optionally move in the vertical direction in the processing tank and adapted to support the object to be processed. The object to be processed, which is supported by the supporting instrument in the processing tank, is dipped in a chemical liquid and/or rinsing liquid, so as to be subjected to a chemical liquid process and/or rinsing process (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
In the prior art liquid processing apparatus of this type, the chemical liquid is filled in advance in the processing tank, and the supporting instrument is lowered in the processing tank, so as to dip the object to be processed in the chemical liquid and provide the chemical liquid process to the object to be processed. Thereafter, without changing the level in the vertical direction of the supporting instrument, the rinsing process is performed, by replacing the chemical liquid with the rinsing liquid in the processing tank. Finally, the rinsing process is ended at a point of time the specific resistance of the rinsing liquid is detected to be higher than a predetermined value.    Patent Document 1: TOKUKAI No. 2000-3895, KOHO
However, in the prior art processing apparatus, because nitrogen gas and/or carbon dioxide gas in the air is dissolved into the surface of the rinsing liquid upon the rinsing process, unduly long time may be required for the specific resistance of the rinsing liquid to be raised up to the predetermined value, due to the effect of the dissolved nitrogen gas and/or carbon dioxide gas. Thus, the time required for the cleaning process may also be unduly long, as such deteriorating the throughput in manufacturing the semiconductor wafers or liquid crystal substrates.